A Reverse Grip Lateral Raise

If you’re familiar with shoulder strength training, it’s likely you regularly incorporate the lateral raise into your workout sessions. The traditional way to perform the lateral raise is to hold a pair of dumbbells with your palms facing inward. If you instead do the reverse grip lateral raise, which flips your hands around, you’ll be changing which of your shoulder muscles have to do most of the work.

  1. Technique

    • Using the reverse grip for the lateral raise means you’re using a palms-up instead of a palms-down wrist position. Stand and hold a dumbbell in each hand with your arms hanging down by your sides. Rotate your wrists so your palms are facing outward. Keep your elbows primarily straight as you lift your arms up and out to your sides until they’re level with your shoulders. Control your arms back down to your thighs and go right into the next rep.

    Muscles

    • There are three heads to the deltoid, which is the largest muscle in your shoulders. The lateral head, which is located in the center and right atop your shoulder, is the primary muscle recruited when you’re performing the traditional version of the lateral raise with your palms facing down. When you rotate your wrists and perform the exercise with a reverse grip, it’s the anterior head of your deltoid that becomes the primary mover. Also helping out your anterior deltoid is your supraspinatus, which is one of the four rotator cuff muscles, and the short head of your biceps.

    Training Tips

    • Avoid using heavy weights when performing the reverse grip lateral raise. When you use a reverse grip, you're performing the exercise with your shoulders externally rotated, which can place an abnormal amount of stress on the muscles and tendons at the joint. The weight you use should make the exercise challenging, but you should be able to complete each repetition using slow and controlled movements and without jerking or bouncing. Incorporate the exercise into your shoulder routine no more than two to three days per week and complete two sets of 10 to 15 repetitions.

    Considerations

    • Although performing the lateral raise while your shoulders are externally rotated, such as during the reverse grip version, does work the anterior deltoid, according to ExRx.net there are exercises that are more effective. If you’re considering incorporating the reverse grip lateral raise into your routine because you’re looking to focus on the anterior head of your deltoid, you’ll see better results by instead doing the shoulder press with a barbell or bench dips.